Large and/or complex equipment (e.g., machinery, environments, systems, etc. in an industrial automation environment) frequently has been demonstrated for and/or reviewed by individuals using demonstration systems (e.g., devices and software)—such demonstrations are frequently used in sales, training, troubleshooting and other common scenarios. These demonstration systems display operational and performance characteristics of the equipment using block, polygonal and other symbolic and/or representational two dimensional graphics so that various features of the equipment can be demonstrated without the equipment itself having to be present.
Equipment demonstration software applications that run on computing systems commonly provide some type of user interface to present information to the user and to receive user inputs. One example of such a system is the Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus 1000 demonstration system. Most applications typically present the user with a static list of functions on the user interface from which the user may select. For example, an operating system typically enables a user to select from menus of system functions, installed applications, and other available operations on the home screen of the operating system. Specific demonstration software can also provide various options to be selected by a user concerning the operation and performance of the equipment being considered.
However, such applications do not display these operational and performance characteristics and information in a manner that allows the user to consider how the equipment operates in a three dimensional setting, such as a factory floor or other real world operational location. Moreover, such applications fail to show the user what the equipment looks like in reality while operating under various user-controlled and user-selected conditions.